Teaching Online? Where to begin?

So it’s decided! You are going to start teaching online this term! But where do you begin? Whether you are looking forward to teaching online or apprehensive about this daunting new world, you need a plan!

There are a couple of things you can take comfort in:

1. Other teachers with the same training and experience as you have been able to successful transition to Online Teaching. So you’ve got this!
2. Your students have missed you and are excited to see you again! They aren’t going to examine your teaching methodology. And they are not going to notice or care whether you are nervous or not. They are just eager to learn from you!

The first thing to recognise about Teaching Online is that you can not do it alone! You need the support of students and parents. They need to:

1. Show up on time.
2. Pay attention in class and follow the virtual class rules.
3. Visit the LMS site (like Google Classroom or Edmodo) to find and complete their assignments.
4. Look out for notices from you as to when new assignments are published.

You can’t go over to their house and make them do it. You need their support!

Communication is Key!

And just like any relationship, communication is key. But how do you communicate when you can’t see each other?

1. You use multiple modes of communication: email, WhatsApp, notices and announcements on the LMS message board, in-class Slides, and virtual Teacher-Parent meetings.
2. Set expectations. Let teachers and students know what you expect of them and the support you need to make this a successful term. Have a virtual meeting at the beginning of the term to let parents know you can’t do this without them. Lay out what actions they are expected to do. And expect that you will discover over the next couple of weeks new ways in which parents and students can assist. Communicate these as they arise or hold a mid-term meeting to give feedback.
3. “Where there is no vision, the people perish…” – so goes he proverb. So communicate your vision! And the easiest way to do that is with a timetable! Release the timetable at the beginning of the term. Let students and parents know what is on the agenda. It means they can mentally prepare and physically prepare their books because they know what is coming every day.
4. Now that they have a general idea of what is on the agenda it is time to get specific. So now communicate the details. Every week, preferably every Monday morning or Sunday evening, send out the Lesson Plans for that week. The Lesson Plans? But I’ve never had to share this with Students and Parents before! True, but when you were teaching face-to-face you were the single point of ensuring that the lesson was taught and in-class activities were completed. Now you are delegating some of the accountability to the Students and Parents. And how can you pass on accountability without sharing the objectives? So If a student misses a class on Monday due to a power outage he and his parents know that he still has to get Pages 8-10 completed in his Mathematics workbook because the information was posted in the Weekly Lesson Plan in the LMS!

Over-Communicate

Why do I need to expend effort to communicate the same thing over and over? 

1. Because we are dealing with students with different learning and listening styles and busy Parents. So just because you’ve posted the information in the LMS doesn’t mean everyone has read it.
2. And most importantly, because we want our students to succeed!

What does it mean to OVER-COMMUNICATE when Teaching Online?

• Say the same thing in different ways.
• Give a general overview and then get into the specifics.
• Use multiple modes of communication.

In Summary

• Share the general timetable in the virtual meeting with Parents and Students at the beginning of the term. This should be in Slides so they see it as they hear you speak to them about it.
• Then send out the Slide pack with the Timetable via email. So that those who missed the meeting can get the information. And so that busy parents can refer to the schedule again as they prep their kids for school.
• Every Monday post the Lesson Plan in the LMS. Parents and Students should expect it because you mentioned it in the meeting as one of their responsibilities to look at it every week.
• Every day tell students what they are going to do in-class that day and what is expected of them for home work that evening. So they’ve seen it and heard it.
• If there’s an anomaly or something new then make an announcement. Try to use two (2) forms of communication for same to increase the chances that the message gets to everyone. You can even delegate this responsibility of communicating special announcements to the parent class rep.! You don’t have to do this alone.
• So your students now have a general plan, weekly objectives and daily tasks. You’ve set them up for success. The rest is up to them!

See what I did there? Over-communicate!

Good Luck! We’d love to hear from you!

• Best of luck in your new journey!
• We’d love to hear from you. If these tips were helpful to you let us know!
• If you have a question about Teaching Online let us know. We’ll try our best to help.
• We can host a FREE Teaching Online workshop for the teachers at your school. Contact Sara Bernard at 772-9812.